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You Never Can Tell (1951)

 
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Krel
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 18, 2017 2:32 pm    Post subject: You Never Can Tell (1951) Reply with quote



You Never Can Tell is a fantasy comedy movie that stars Dick Powell, playing off his private eye image.

From the AFI website with some additions from me:

When tycoon Andrew Lindsay dies, he shocks his community by leaving his six million dollar fortune to King, his faithful veteran K-9 dog. Lindsay's secretary, the sweet and lovely Ellen Hathaway, is the trustee of the estate and next in line to inherit.



_____


Ellen is besieged by fortune hunters, and when Corporal Perry Collins comes by to visit King, the dog seems to dislike him, and she suspects that he is just another fortune hunter. Perry soon wins her over, however, by regaling her with stories of his days with King in the Army K-9 Corps.

Weeks later, Ellen is falling in love with Perry, but King remains wary. Perry leaves for a business meeting, promising that if he secures backing for his project, he will return to ask Ellen "an important question."

Later that day, King is found dead from poisoning, and the police immediately name Ellen as their top suspect.

King's ghost rises that night to Bestiatory (or animal purgatory) where each spirit is judged and either allowed into heaven or sentenced to return to earth as a "hum-animal." Hum-animals are humans who retain their animal tendencies, and they must remain as such until they have paid for their former sins.

King asks for and is granted special permission to go back as a hum-animal in order to clear Ellen of the false charges against her. With a guide — a female Tennessee thoroughbred racehorse named Golden Harvest — King returns to earth as Rex Shepard, a private investigator with a taste for kibble.



_____


Rex informs Goldie that Perry is a sadistic animal abuser, and he killed King in order to marry Ellen and swindle her out of her inheritance. The Kibble-snacking Rex's first order of business is to visit his old home, but Ellen at first refuses his offer to help her clear her name. She relaxes, however, when Lindsay's other dog (Tillie, who has not eaten since King died), joyfully eats out of Rex's hand.

The next day, Perry informs Rex that he has persuaded Ellen to drop his investigation of the case, after which Rex sneaks back into the house to reconstruct the night of the murder from memory. He soon digs up the bottle of poison Perry used. When Ellen sees it, she re-hires him.



______


However, as soon as Rex asks her to postpone her upcoming wedding to Perry, she assumes he is only after her money and turns him in to the police as a possible murder suspect. The police bug his office, but as soon as they hear Rex reminiscing with Goldie (who is often at the track giving advice to her grandchildren) about his days as a dog, they decide he is merely insane.

Now unable to procure the police's help, Rex tracks down his old K-9 Corps friend, a bulldog named Max. He steals Max from his kennel and brings him to Ellen's, where he informs her that Perry beat the Army dogs. He proves his claim by setting Max loose to attack his old corporal.

When Max's owner arrives (Perry's old commander Major Smith), he confirms that Perry was transferred because he was cruel to the animals. With Perry safely in police custody, Ellen asks a smitten Rex (who to his alarm finds himself in love with a human) to visit her again. But Goldie reminds him that they must return to Bestiatory that night or be forced to remain on earth as humans with no memory of their animal days.

Rex at first leaves with Goldie, but when she mentions that Ellen is actually a part-shepherd hum-animal, Rex decides to stay on earth with Ellen for at least one more lifetime.






A fun gentle movie. I like it.

David.

____
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 18, 2017 3:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SPOILERS! Ack! Thbbft!
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Krel
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 18, 2017 4:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

orzel-w wrote:
SPOILERS! Ack! Thbbft!

SPOILERS? The movie's over 60 years old! Laughing

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 18, 2017 4:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krel wrote:
SPOILERS? The movie's over 60 years old! Laughing

David.

Until today, I'd never even heard of it . . . much less seen it! Shocked
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 18, 2017 6:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow, This is a tough one!

I'd never heard of it before and never saw it turn up on TCM!



There is a short clip on Youtube, but doesn't seem to be anywhere else online.



It sounds charming though.



I just wish you had broken the description above up into more paragraphs to make reading easier, but still, Thanks for introducing me to another movie I have to track down! Very Happy
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Krel
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 18, 2017 11:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gord Green wrote:
I just wish you had broken the description above up into more paragraphs to make reading easier, but still, Thanks for introducing me to another movie I have to track down! Very Happy

I'm sorry about that. I did it while on break, so it was a cut-and-paste from the AFI site with a few comments of my own thrown in. I promise to be more considerate in the future.

As I think about it, I haven't seen the movie in decades, but I am sorry if I did spoil it for people. My next 60+ movie post won't be so spoilerific, I promise. Laughing

David.
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 19, 2017 1:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The review was great!

I got through it OK, but just saying it was hard to read as posted. Just needed a couple of breaks to keep my old tired eyes from re-reading the same lines twice!

All and all, it really whetted my appetite to see this film!
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 19, 2017 8:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I asked David for permission to edit the review which he pasted from the AFI site and to do what Gord suggested concerning the paragraph breaks.

He said that was fine with him. Very Happy

Naturally I couldn't resist adding a poster and a few pictures, too. By gum, I really want to see this movie!

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Krel
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 20, 2018 2:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tonight on TCM, at 8pm Central, they are showing "You Never Can Tell".

Check your local listings and act accordingly.

David.
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 20, 2018 3:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Eastern time is 9:30 ! THANKS Krel! I'll have to set the DDR!
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 20, 2018 5:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Me too!

Anybody want to watch it in All Sci-Fi's Chatzy room tomorrow evening or sometime this weekend? Very Happy

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Krel
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 26, 2018 12:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I got to wondering how much 1951 $800.00 would be worth in 2018. According to an inflation calculator, it would be worth $7,888.77. No wonder about the excitement.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 25, 2020 5:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

As stated in the posts above from 2018, this movies aired on TCM, and I DVR it.

However, I guess Krel's wonderful review gave me expectations that were a bit too high. Sad

Being a big fan of Dick Powell, his presence also seemed to bode well for the movie. And finally there was the similarity between the premises of this movie and Oh Heavenly Dog (1980), a movie I like quite a lot.

For the record, this trailer does an amazing job of explaining the wacky premise of this fantasy. I'm impressed. Very Happy


__________Oh Heavenly Dog - Theatrical Trailer


__________


But having said all that, I was a bit let down by this imaginative fantasy. It was just a touch too campy in scenes like the one in which Peggy Dow (the former horse) chased a bus down the street when she needed board it, and they sped up the film of her running, while dubbing in horse hooves clomping along at high speed! Confused

That kind of thing made it tough to suspend my disbelief in this highly imaginative premise.

But the movie had a wealth of pluses, and I did enjoy i! Thanks for alerting us to this neglected cinematic gem. Very Happy

By the way, the closing credits for Oh Heavenly Dog features this wonderful song by Elton John. My daughter (All Sci-Fi member Ticket2theMoon) and I both love it!

Gee, you just never know when a piece of music will grad you like that, eh? Cool


_____________ Elton John - return to paradise


__________

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